1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to medical imaging acquisition systems and telemedicine, and more specifically, to a technique, system, and process for transmitting and displaying ultrasound video images acquired from subjects located remotely in real time or near real time.
2. Description of Related Art
Ultrasound is cyclic sound pressure with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing. Although this limit varies from person to person, it is approximately 20 kilohertz (20,000 hertz) in healthy, young adults and thus, 20 kHz serves as a useful lower limit in describing ultrasound. The production of ultrasound is used in many different fields and generally involves penetrating a medium and measuring the reflection signature. The reflection signature can reveal details about the inner structure of the medium. The most well known application of ultrasound is its use in sonography to produce pictures of fetuses in the human womb.
Medical sonography (or “ultrasonography”) is an ultrasound-based diagnostic medical imaging technique used to visualize muscles, tendons, and many internal organs, to capture their size, structure and any pathological lesions with real time tomographic images. Ultrasound has been used by sonographers to image the human body for at least 50 years and has become one of the most widely used diagnostic tools in modern medicine. The technology is relatively inexpensive and portable, especially when compared with other techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT).
Veterinary radiologists currently travel from site to site performing ultrasound procedures. There is currently no effective and efficient means for a veterinary radiologist to remotely oversee an ultrasound study in a real time fashion. Many conventional systems for ultrasound image transmission require still images or relatively short ultrasound video clips to be transmitted over a local access network (LAN) line. However, there is currently no technology in place to transmit a continuous live video feed from a veterinary ultrasound to a remote viewer for real time study review and collaboration.
A few prior approaches have attempted to utilize satellite technology and/or standard land-based phone lines to deliver ultrasound images and/or video in a real-time fashion. However, there are several disadvantages with implementing such systems. First, satellite transmission time is cost prohibitive. For example, satellite bandwidth typically costs $5 per minute during transmission and the initial setup of a satellite link at a particular location can be approximately $3,000-$5,000—far exceeding the cost of an ultrasound procedure itself Second, in conventional land-based phone lines utilizing a digital subscriber line (DSL), the data transmission speed is not adequate enough to transmit real-time ultrasound video. Third, the dependability of satellite technology is intermittent at best. Fourth, a satellite based system does not lend itself to efficient portability as a satellite transceiver, i.e., dish and related electronics typically requires a mounting surface and a large space to use. Fifth, satellite transceivers require an unimpeded line of sight with the satellite and knowledge of operating parameters of the satellite.